


End of the Line

by tonystarked



Series: Even when I had nothing, I had Sammy [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, Angst, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Multi, Star Trek References, Time Travel, lots of them - Freeform, sorry that my military knowledge is limited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 10:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1815739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonystarked/pseuds/tonystarked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Winter Soldier AU] "In order to build a better world, sometimes means tearing the old one down... and that makes enemies." </p><p>Dean as the Captain and Sam as the Winter Soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anaklusmos14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anaklusmos14/gifts).



> Important Note: I am not well-versed in US Army and Air Force ranks so the information may be inaccurate since I did so little research (well, little compared to what I usually do). While this does bear some similarities and sticks with some plot points from Winter Soldier, other points are changed drastically and the outcomes are completely different. The changes were necessary to fit the Supernatural characters’ personalities.

**Prologue**

Dean could not understand how he had ended up like he had… cold and alone. In the beginning, he had everything he could have ever asked for. He had Bobby, who was like a second father to him, filling the gap in his chest that his real father never could and made him feel like he was worth something; he had Sammy, his little brother whom he had sworn to protect.

Dean could pinpoint the exact moment when things started to go downhill for him; he could tell you the precise moment his whole world shattered before his eyes and when he realized that the world wasn't black and white, but innumerable shades of gray.

He supposed he had always been naïve when it came to things like this –if it was a bully, take him out. For him, it had always been good or bad, never both.

The path to this realization was a lengthy and agonizing one, full of grief and blood and loss.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

 

 **i. An offer you can’t refuse**  
 _“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” –The Godfather, 1972_  
  
 _ **Logan County, Kansas – 1942** _  
  
“Don’t upset your father, not now.”  
  
“I’m sorry to inform you, but my father is too dead to be upset, sir.”

The Colonel chuckled and shook his head. “He couldn't have died at a worst time, eh?”

Dean clenched his jaw and crossed his arms, staring intently at the man in front of him. “Even if my father was here, it wouldn’t change my mind.”

The Colonel scoffed in disbelief. “Don’t lie to yourself, kid. Everyone knows that you’d do anything for your old man; he raised you to be the perfect little soldier that you always have been and still are.”

“I still don’t understand why you would want me.” He didn’t deny the officer’s statement but he didn’t confirm it either –at least, not verbally. The officer sure knew how to push his buttons and he did not like that one bit. It made him want to grab the man and smash his head against the sidewalk until he stopped breathing. But he couldn’t do that, not now, not ever because Dean Winchester was supposed to be the good little boy who could do no wrong.

_“There’s a darkness inside of you, Dean. Don’t let it control you,” his mother whispered in his ear and her grip on the front of his shirt slackened until her hand fell to her side._

“If you’re anything like your father –“

“I’m not.” Dean said tightly. He really wasn’t, he hoped he wasn’t. His father was everything he wasn’t, everything he didn't want to be. 

The Colonel continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “Then I know you’ll make one fine soldier, kid. We need someone like you in the front line leading the others. You can settle for a less than ordinary life, or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special? You can be a hero, Dean, just like your dad. Or better. Your father may have been one of our best soldiers in the first war, but you… you could jump straight to Captain. I’ve seen you in action, Dean… I know you’ll fight for the right cause because it’s in your nature and I know damn well you’ll do a fine job of leading the soldiers to triumph. Enlist in the army.”

“Enlist?” Dean laughed. “You guys must be way down on your recruiting quota for the month if you’re trying to recruit a no-good bum like me.”

“Cut the pity-session, Winchester. If you’re half the man your father was, Dean, we could use you.”

“I wish you’d stop comparing me to my father.” Dean mumbled bitterly.

The officer studied the man in front of him for a few seconds. “Then make a name for yourself, kid, so that when people hear the name ‘Dean Winchester’ they don’t think “Oh, that’s John Winchester’s kid” but think “Dean Winchester, a real hero.” I’ll be at the enlisting office in Kansas Highway 25 tomorrow if you change your mind.” _We leave tomorrow_ , was what he meant to say, but the Colonel knew that Dean would understand, hear it without hearing it. Kid was a smart kid after all.

Dean nodded and stood up, holding out his hand to shake. The officer took Dean’s hand in his and shook it firmly, looking at him in the eye. “I’m proposing you to become a Captain, son. That’s an offer you can’t refuse. Thousands would kill to be in your place –quite literally.”

“Thank you, Colonel Phillips.”

The Colonel nodded and stood up from the bench he had been sitting on, next to Dean at the park. The two men could feel the gazes they had attracted, with the Colonel in his uniform and several badges on his chest. “Remember, kid, an offer you can’t refuse.” There was a warning in his tone and Dean knew that even if he didn’t want to, he’d end up in the army as a draftee but the Colonel was trying to make him feel as if he had a choice so that when he lead the soldiers to war, he wouldn’t feel resentment but it didn’t feel as if he had a choice at all, he thought, glancing down at the uniform on his lap.

Dean nodded in confirmation. “I heard you the first time, Colonel.”

Once the Colonel disappeared out of sight, his not-so-little brother slid in the vacant seat next to him and Dean quickly stuffed the bag of clothes inside his coat. “Who was that?” he asked once the people around them had turned back to mind their own business.

“No one important, kid.”

Sam gave shot him an annoyed glare. “’No one important’? He was wearing a military uniform and he had badges on his chest… he looked like an officer to me.”

“Just _drop_ it.” Dean snapped and stood from his seat, walking towards their house at a quick pace. His back was rigid and the aura around him was dark; any sane folk would’ve backed away, but not Sam. Of course, Sam had never really been exactly sane or really had any preservation skills if the number of fights he got in with much bigger and stronger men was anything to go by.

“No,” Sam said sharply as he jogged to catch up to his brother. “I want you to tell me why that officer was here and _who_ he is.”

Dean sighed in irritation and rolled his eyes as he walked up the steps to their home, Sam trailing behind him. Their home was small and modest, only two bedrooms with one bathroom and small family room with an even smaller kitchen. It was worn down and old but it was home. “Dean just tell me.”

“There’s nothing to tell!”

“Yes, there is! Stop being a stubborn fat-head and tell me!”

“Did you seriously just call me a ‘fat-head’?”

“Don’t try to change the subject.” Dean sighed once again, half was irritation and the other resignation. Damn the kid and his damned habit to keep on pushing his buttons until he gave in. Damn him.

“Colonel Phillips, Sammy.”

“Colonel?”

“Yeah, he was here to… deliver my uniform.” Dean reached inside his coat and took a neatly folded uniform inside a clear plastic bag that the Colonel had dumped on him when he had first arrived. Sam took it from his hands and inspected it closely, taking in the sight of the dark green clothing and the darkly polished shoes that came with it.

“You enlisted without me?” There was no denying that there was hurt and a hint of betrayal in Sam’s voice.

“Yeah.”

“Why? I thought we had agreed that we’d do that together! Dean, you –“

“I went on and enlisted without you to save the embarrassment!” Dean yelled and his voice carried through the walls and Sam flinched back from the unexpected harsh treatment. “I didn’t want to be with someone like you– they’d laugh at me for being the brother of a scrawny, innocent and naïve child like you! They’d call me ridiculous… how am I supposed to join the army and go fight and lead them to victory like our dad if I can’t even get their respect, thanks to you.”

_I’m not ashamed of you, but I’m doing this… hurting you because I love you. How am I supposed to tell you that I **didn’t** enlist because I wanted to stay back and protect you? How am I supposed to say that I wouldn’t be going to war if I didn’t have to without looking like a coward in your eyes, compared to you, you stupid, brave idiot. How am I supposed to leave you behind if you don’t get accepted or what if you **do** get in and we’re separated to never see each other again? _

Sam couldn’t speak from the shock and hurt and his chest ached so much and he could see his vision becoming more and more blurry with each word his beloved older brother said. “I… I thought that…” He sniffled and wiped away the tears, not wanting to prove his brother right; that he was a child even though he was an adult in the eyes of the law, only just turned nineteen.

“What, you actually thought that they’d take someone like you?” Dean asked him mockingly.

Sam watched as his brother turned his face away and tensed and realization hit Sam in the face like a bullet would to flesh and it wounded much more than Dean’s punitive words towards him. He should have known. “Dean, I understand that you were looking out for me and that you want to keep me away from war but there’s no way you’ll be able to do that. The war itself is catching up to us and if we don’t go out there and fight then pretty soon war will invade our homes and kill us all.”

He walked closer towards his older brother, fear and hurt leaving his body as he embraced his brother, who only wanted to protect him because Dean loved him – he wasn’t ashamed of Sam, Dean just loved too much, so fiercely. The oldest Winchester tensed again before he relaxed his muscles and returned the embrace.

“Yeah… alright. I’m sorry, Sammy.” He mumbled.

_That’s only part of the reason as to why I **didn’t** enlist. I don’t want to leave you alone, Sammy, but I can’t allow you to see what you don’t have to see. I don’t want you to suffer through war and come out a scarred and bitter man like our father. I didn’t enlist because I had hoped… I prayed to someone out there that I wouldn’t be drafted and I could stay here and protect you from bullies like I always have… but when we go to war, I won’t be able to do that for you, little brother, my Sammy. _

“’S alright, Dean.”

“So, guess I’ll go with you to the enlistment office, the one in 25. I leave tomorrow.”

Sammy nodded and hugged him tighter. “I’ll get my own uniform just like yours, Dean. We’ll be heroes, I just know it. We’ll kill so many Nazis and give freedom to thousands. Heroes, Dean, _heroes_.” Dean noticed that Sam had conveniently ignored the last part and he was somewhat relived about it.

_I just want you to be safe, Sammy._

“C’mon, go wash yourself. I’m cooking tonight.”

Sam smiled. “Bobby will be happy about that; he hates cooking.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s why he’s so terrible at it.”

“Maybe.”

_I’ll enjoy it while I can. This might be the last time I see this house, the last time I see you before I buy the farm out there._

_“An offer you can’t refuse.”_

_“He raised you to be the **perfect little soldier** that you always have been and still are.” _

Dinner was somewhat tense after Dean revealed to Bobby of his departure and that he was to be stationed in New York. Once Sam had left for bed, Bobby served the two of them a glass of whiskey each and they drank in silence until it was suffocating them.

“Soldier, huh? Promise you won’t come back like your old man.”

“I’m not even sure I’ll come back.”

Bobby shot him a glare. “Don’t even joke about that, idjit.”

Dean shrugged and served himself another glass of the alcoholic drink, staring at it for a second before downing that too. “I just… this is war, Bobby. It’s either give your life or nothin’ – especially being Captain, people expect so much more and –“

“Wait, hold up, boy… Captain?”

Dean paused for a moment. “Yes, Captain.”

Bobby frowned. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I didn’t want to say so in front of Sammy. You know he’ll… he’ll be pissed if he finds out that I’m not even going through the basic training like everyone else, just jumping straight to Captain because apparently, Colonel Phillips has ‘seen me in action’ and he is impressed with my high scores in school. He’s been tailing me, Bobby, he’s been finding out every damn detail about my life and apparently I live up to his standards… he thinks I am truly John Winchester’s son.”

“Tailing… you.”

“Yes, he sent Sammy to be tailed too but besides that, he didn’t elaborate.”

“He wants you to be Captain because you’re John’s son.”

“Yes,” Dean muttered. “He gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Bobby stayed silent for a few minutes. “I need another drink,” he declared and served the two another one each.

“But… Sam will find out eventually, son.”

“We might not even be stationed at the same base.”

“But you _may_ be.”

“I’ll… cross that bridge when it comes to it.”

Suddenly, Bobby realized something. “When did you even enlist?”

“I didn’t. I got drafted. But the Colonel was so nice as to allow me to tomorrow with Sammy and let me ‘enlist’ myself and then leave afterwards. He wanted me to feel as if I actually had a choice.”

“That don’t make sense.”

“You’re telling me.”

“So I guess this is your last night here.” Bobby said gravely.

“Yes…” Dean looked away and took a sip of his drink.

“I’m gonna miss you, bugger.” Dean cracked a smile.

“You too, Bobby, you too.”

The next morning, the boys were gone before sunrise and Bobby woke up to the sweet fragrance of pancakes and a good-bye note from the boys.

For the first time since his wife had passed away, Bobby Singer wept.

He missed his two boys already.

 **Next** : _I’ve a feeling I’m not in Kansas anymore_  
 _“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” –The Wizard of Oz, 1939_

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer  
> I absolutely own nothing as it all belongs to Marvel and the CW. The art belongs to petite-madame on Tumblr. I also doubt that I am the first to write a Winter Soldier SPN AU because of this talented artist.


End file.
